Denied initially: Iowan now owns a firearms store

Mar. 10, 2013

Mike Jensen, displaying a bullet from a Barrett long range sniper rifle, opened his gun shop in Charlotte after initially being denied a gun permit by the Clinton County Sheriff. / Bryon Houlgrave/The Register

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CHARLOTTE, Ia. -- Mike Jensen was denied a permit to carry a weapon in January 2011 by Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln, who said his training was inadequate because it contained no interaction with an instructor.

Jensen, whose initial training course was an online course offered by the state of Maryland, said he couldn’t disagree with the sheriff’s reasoning. He quickly enrolled in another course, reapplied and received his permit a few months later.

In October 2012 Jensen, now 35, opened a firearms store where he stocks handguns and other weapons such as the Barrett Model 99, a bolt-action rifle that can shoot seven miles and, at shorter distances, strike its target through a brick or concrete structure.

But, despite his close association with weapons, Jensen’s thoughts about gun control are clear: He believes moderate safety laws and changes to Iowa’s training courses make sense.

Take, for example, that Barrett Model 99. He said there should be more restrictions about who can purchase such a weapon. The way Iowa law reads now, someone could technically carry that gun in the street, he noted.

“It’s hard to imagine for me what this gun in the wrong hands could do,” Jensen said, standing in front of a nearly life-size photo of President John F. Kennedy, which is part of a display in his shop that contains the same model of gun used to assassinate Kennedy in 1963. “What happened at Sandy Hook is nothing compared to what something like this could do ... at 1,000 yards. They’d have no idea where it was coming from.”

An administrative law judge later ruled that the Maryland online course is acceptable to obtain a permit to carry a gun in Iowa, but Jensen said he believes people should be required to take courses that include hands-on training.

“Why should you carry a gun, and why should they give you a permit to do so, if you can’t demonstrate that you can run the weapon?” Jensen asked.

He continued: “If you want to hold a gun privately and take it to a range and shoot, there is no control over that. Go ahead. But if you want to carry it on the street and potentially put people at risk, you should demonstrate” that you can properly control the weapon.

Jensen said he has no real intention of selling the Barrett Model 99, despite its $4,750 price tag. But, he does sell a lot of weapons and said he’s had a tough time keeping some guns and ammunition in stock since the Sandy Hook shooting.

The people he has sold to generally have been residents of his community. He hasn’t encountered any customers who give him pause out of concern that the weapon would be used to harm innocent people, he said. If and when he does, he said he won’t make the sale.